Rogue cop kills 5 British soldiers

Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times

Published
4:00 am PST, Thursday, November 5, 2009

Photo: Peter Byrne, AP

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In this image made available in London Wednesday Nov. 4, 2009, a casualty is brought into the military hospital at Camp Bastion, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, after five British soldiers were shot dead in an attack. The five soldiers, three from the Grenadier Guards and two from the Royal Military Police, were killed in the Nad-e'Ali district of Helmand Province on Nov. 3, where they were training and operating with Afghan security forces, when an Afghan policeman opened fire on them inside a checkpoint.(AP Photo/Peter Byrne-pa) **UNITED KINGDOM OUT: NO SALES: NO ARCHIVE:** less

In this image made available in London Wednesday Nov. 4, 2009, a casualty is brought into the military hospital at Camp Bastion, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, after five British soldiers were shot dead in ... more

Photo: Peter Byrne, AP

Rogue cop kills 5 British soldiers

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British officials Wednesday blamed a "rogue" Afghan policeman for the shooting deaths of five British soldiers at a checkpoint in the volatile south, raising concerns about the possible infiltration of local security forces by militants.

The latest deaths raised the number of British troops killed since the 2001 invasion to 229 and were likely to fuel debate about the country's continued involvement in the war. Britain is the second-largest contributor of forces to Afghanistan after the United States, with 9,000 troops here.

Concerns have been raised before about the quality of the Afghan National Police, some of whose members have been accused of drug trafficking, corruption and other abuses. The shooting happened a month after an Afghan policeman turned his gun on U.S. troops during a joint patrol, killing two.

"The problem could get more challenging as we try to accelerate recruiting, so we will have to think hard about finding ways to prevent future recurrences," Michael O'Hanlon, a security expert with Brookings Institution in Washington, said by e-mail. "It argues for steps like creating biometric databases and even more carefully screening applicants."

A key part of the strategy in Afghanistan is to build competent army and police forces that can eventually take over security responsibilities.

The attack took place at a busy checkpoint in the Nad-e-Ali district. The assailant fled and his whereabouts were not known, officials said.

This has already been the deadliest year of the war for the United States and its allies. According to the independent Web site icasualties.org, at least 459 foreign troops have been killed.

U.S. toll in Afghanistan

As of Wednesday, at least 833 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The latest deaths reported by the military: